Tag: conception

What is Pre-Parental Counseling?

Thinking about starting a family? Pre-parental counseling helps ease the transition for couples as they navigate the stages of pregnancy and postpartum.

Counseling is an effective tool that more and more Americans are seeking, from families to couples to individuals. Here in Middle Tennessee, Emily Pardy of Ready Nest Counseling provides a unique form of counseling that has long been missing in the therapy field- counseling for those seeking to become parents, (pre-parental counseling).

Pardy discovered the absence of this kind of counseling through personal experience. “Several years ago, my husband and I were trying to decide if we were ready to start a family. We sought help from the therapist who had walked us through pre-marital counseling, and when we approached him with the idea for giving us “pre-parental counseling” he was perplexed! He didn’t have any curriculum or resources to offer us, but he was willing to sit down with us and discuss our expectations of parenthood and how we felt it would affect our relationship.”

An Investment in Your Relationship

Through hard work Pardy and her husband feathered their proverbial nest using the tools they picked up from their counseling. “When we finally got pregnant and had our first daughter, it immediately became evident to us what a gift that investment had been in our relationship.”

And with the recognition of the gift that counseling had given them, a light bulb went off for Pardy-others could benefit from this type of work. “As our friends started to become parents as well, we quickly learned we were far from alone in our challenges. I had always valued my experience with therapy as a client; but, when I started to share my story with other parents it truly became a passion of mine to help ease this transition for couples as they navigated the stages of pregnancyand postpartum. After I had my second daughter, I wrote my first book, For All Maternity about my own journey into motherhood. Then, I decided to go back to school and get my Masters in Marriage & Family Therapy to gain the education necessary to turn my passion into a profession..”

Focusing on Couples as a Whole

Pardy launched Ready Nest Counseling to work with families in, as she puts it, “in such a tender phase of life.” From conceptionto pregnancy to postpartum to infertility, Pardy seeks to help families in all stages of growth and while focusing on couples as a whole to ensure that both women and men get what they need from counseling.

“Trying for a baby, childbirth, and infertility are all major milestones that affect almost every aspect of a couple’s life together. While society tends to feminize this experience, Ready Nest Counseling focuses on the entire system that is affected. My goal is to offer couples preventative help as early as possible and provide them with the resources they need to integrate care throughout the entire phase. Ready Nest Counseling is at the forefront of integrating care with a couple’s emotional and relational wellness in mind.”

When You Get Help, You Also Give Help

Babies are more than just a focus in Pardy’s work in the office; she also implements a charitable component to her work to help newborns in need. “Ready Nest Counseling is dedicated to donating a portion of all session fees to the March of Dimes. The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies. When you get help, you also give help!”

To get your own nest prepared, please visit Rest Nest Counseling’s website and be sure to check out Emily Pardy’s blog.